Instructor Showcase at Hotel 24 South until June 27! Plus, Studio Membership applications open Saturday, after the Open House!

Well, it’s officially summer! I love this season here in Staunton, when Beverley Street turns into a pedestrian zone on weekends and you can stroll from shop to shop, dine al fresco, see kids making chalk murals in the middle of the street, eat gelato, go to outdoor plays and concerts, enjoy live music great shopping at the farmers’ market and, of course, retreat to our lovely cool Staunton Clayground studio to play with clay!

Our town gets plenty of visitors who enjoy downtown, but even if you’re a local, you might want to try and pop into Hotel 24 South sometime in the next few days, because you only have until June 27 to check out the Staunton Clayground Instructor Showcase display in the lobby!

We’ve put together a display window where you can learn about our staff and instructors and their work, and everyone lent us some pretty cool pieces to exhibit. So, when you’re walking around downtown this weekend enjoying Staunton’s very own seasonal pedestrian promenade, stop by Hotel 24 South and see who your teachers might be when you sign up for a class!

Speaking of which, there are still a couple of spots left in our Pottery Wheel For All-Level Beginners class startingthis coming Tuesday!

Or would you rather join us in our nice cool studio this summer and play with clay whenever the fancy strikes you? We’re launching our Studio Membership program next month, so you could do just that! We’re hosting a special Open House dedicated to answering all of your questions about becoming and being a member tomorrow, Saturday, June 22, from 11am–3pm (read the original blog post about it or check out the Facebook Event page for more details), so stop in if you can! The membership application form will open to the general public at 4pm the same day (which is when this link to the Membership Information page and its embedded application form at the bottom of the page will start working). Initial spaces will be limited as we get the program up and running. Applications will be evaluated in the order they are received, so click the above link Saturday at 4pm if you’re interested! Members will be able to start using the studio 7 days a week, 7am–10 pm, starting on Saturday, July 6!

Come and see us!

Is that all? I think so… oh, boy, we've sure got a lot going on around here! We are so excited, and hope that you are, too! 😃

Enjoy the weekend downtown, stay cool, and we’ll see you soon at the Staunton Clayground!

Membership Q&A Open House Reminder! Plus, 2 Spots Left In Beginner Wheel Class Starting Tuesday, June 25

Things have definitely been heating up at the studio, and not just because of our kilns 😁

We have been hard at work not just setting up a ton of great classes (taking place inside where it is nice and cool 😉) but also getting ready to launch our Studio Membership Program next month! And July is just around the corner, so we wanted to remind you about our special Open House happening this Saturday, June 22, from 11–3, for the express purpose of answering all of your questions about memberships, classes and anything else you might want to know about what we’re up to!

We are very excited to show you our new member space and tell you all about what we’re planning. Not only that, but there will be refreshments and door prizes for 3 lucky winners, who will get a discount on their first 3 months as members! Come down and see us! Tell your friends! RSVP on Facebook, if you like. We can’t wait to see you there.

Also, our wheel classes have been filling up fast, but there are still 2 spots left in the Pottery Wheel For All-Level Beginners class starting this coming Tuesday, June 25! It will run Tuesday evenings, 5:30–8:30 pm for 5 weeks.

Come down and clay!

New Sunday Pottery Wheel All-Level Beginner Class Announced And Last Call For "Bowls & Underglaze" Workshop, Starting Tuesday!

We hope that you are all having a wonderful weekend and staying cool!

We’re writing with some exciting news! We have just posted a new Pottery Wheel For All-Level Beginners class, set to run on Sunday afternoons, 2:30–5:00 pm, June 30–July 28 and August 11, 2024.

Why have we added another one? Well, we have had a lot of requests for Sunday classes, plus the other all-level beginners wheel class we posted just a couple of weeks ago is already nearly sold out! If you were interested in that one, which will be running on Tuesdays evenings, 5:30–8:30 pm, June 25–July 23, now is the time to grab one of the few spots remaining!

If you already have some experience at the wheel and are itching to get your hands back in the clay a little sooner, there’s still a little time to book a spot in Nicole Eyerman Hill’s pottery wheel and surface decoration workshop starting this Tuesday, Bowls & Underglaze.

It will consist of three 3-hour sessions, running from 5:30–8:30 pm on Tuesday, June 18, Friday, June 21 and Friday, June 28, 2024. Sign-ups close after Sunday, June 16, so if you’re interested, now’s the time!

Last but not least, don’t forget about our Open House on Saturday, June 22, from 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.!

This event will be specifically dedicated to answering your questions about our Membership Program, which is set to start up very soon! Look for the Facebook Event page, going up this week.

Keep watching this space for news about this and more great summer workshops!

Wishing you a great weekend and, to all of you Dads out there, Happy Father’s Day! 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

Studio Membership Q&A Open House, Saturday, June 22, 11am–3pm

Exciting news! It has been an action-packed last six weeks or so since we opened our doors. We’ve run a few classes, helped lots of folks get their hands dirty (in the very best way) and made a lot of new friends!

After this soft opening, we are finally gearing up to launch our Studio Membership program by next month, and we would like to invite you to join us later in June for a special Open House dedicated specifically to answering all of your questions about becoming a member of the Staunton Clayground!

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 22, from 11:00 am–3:00 pm. We will be here to tell you all about it and show you around the studio, if you haven’t had a chance to see it just yet.

There will be refreshments and a door prize of a discount on the first three months of membership for 3 lucky visitors! Stay a while, ask us any questions you have, and we will answer you or even give you a quick equipment demo if need be!

Also, if you made a garden stake at our last Open House and still haven’t picked it up, you can do that on June 22, too!

We are so excited to be nearly ready for this moment we’ve all been waiting for!

Keep watching this space for updates. See you soon at the Staunton Clayground 😃

Garden Stakes Are Ready For Pickup!

(And Just One Week To Go Until Our Slab Geometric Vase Building Workshop Starts!)

Hello Friends of the Staunton Clayground! We have good news for you today 😀 We’ve just unloaded the garden stakes painted at Open House from the kiln and they are ready for pick-up!

Garden stakes by our endlessly creative Open House guests. Come and get ‘em!

For now, we are scheduling two pick-up days, and hopefully one of them will work for you! They are this coming Wednesday, May 15, 1:00–5:00 pm, and Sunday, May 19, 4:00–6:00 pm. These will also be “Open Door” events, meaning that we will have our door open and we will be welcoming anyone who wants to take a look at the studio, take a tour, and get answers to questions about classes or memberships (our membership program is coming in June!).

If you have a friend who wasn’t able to make it to our open house, please feel free to invite them along to check out our space!

The basil and oregano feel very well-adorned. Let’s hope the sage and rosemary don’t get jealous!

Looking forward to seeing you soon! And please remember, once you’ve picked up your stake, we’d love to see a photo of it in its forever home! Above are the garden stakes that live in the kitchen garden of yours truly.

Also, we still have spaces available in our six-hour Slab Geometric Vases Workshop

running 1:00–3:00 pm next Saturday, May 18, Sunday, May 19 and Sunday, June 2, 2024, and taught by Nicole Eyerman Hill.

We will look forward to seeing you soon! And don’t worry, if you can’t make it to one of these pick-up dates, we’ll figure something out!

A Bountiful Bisque Firing

Check it out! All of the lovely pots that our guest potters, Justin (@potpotfrit) and Nicole (@eyerman.art) made while demonstrating wheel throwing during our open house are out of their first firing and ready to be glazed. Now their makers get a chance to play with our glaze collection!

Next firing in the schedule: all the gorgeous garden stakes you all painted during the open house! There have been some technical setbacks (to be expected during the first few weeks, they tell me!) but they're finally going in for their glaze firing! As soon as they come out, we'll set a pick-up date.

Stay tuned!

A Wonderful Open House, Thanks To You – Plus, The Raffle Winner Is Announced!

Click here to go straight to the full picture gallery by @octobergracemedia, at the bottom of the post.

Hello to everyone and a very warm welcome to all of you who just signed up for the Staunton Clayground newsletter during our Open House event this past weekend. What a wonderful time we had. Thank you for coming down and supporting us on our very first day! It was a beautiful April afternoon and, with so many great activities going on around town, we’re very glad and grateful that you decided to spend some of it with us ❤️

Kids of all ages enjoyed painting ceramic garden stakes for Earth Day (photos by @octobergracemedia)

Our “paint-your-own” garden stakes project, in honor of Earth Day, was very popular, with visitors of all ages enjoying the fun. We are working on glazing those and should have them ready to fire soon! We’ll keep you posted on the progress. Check out a taste of the fun above, and the whole gallery of photos can be viewed at the bottom of this post!

From the Staunton Clayground to a garden near you, this spring! (Photo by @octobergracemedia)

Live wheel-throwing demos ran pretty much all afternoon. The first to sit down at the wheel and show everyone what it’s all about was local potter Justin Hershey, who was volunteering to help us out for the day. Check out more of his work on his Instagram page, @potpotfrit.

Local potter Justin Hershey, demonstrating some of the amazing things a potter’s wheel can do (photos by @octobergracemedia)

For the second half of the afternoon, our very own Nicole Hill took over. You may know her by her Instagram handle, Eyerman.art, under which she exhibited at last fall’s Art in the Park, right here in Staunton. She will be one of our regular instructors, and is so far scheduled to teach a Slab Geometric Vases workshop in May and June and an Intermediate Wheel Throwing class in June and July, and has lots more ideas and skills to share!

Staunton Clayground instructor Nicole Hill of @eyerman.art shows future potters just how fun the wheel can be (photos by @octobergracemedia)

Meanwhile, we had a blast telling everyone all about the plans we have for the Staunton Clayground, from classes to workshops, upcoming events and the soon-to-come membership program (look for more info about that in May! We expect to be able to open up to members around Memorial Day).

Founder and Director, Cary (right in the lower photo), and Studio Manager, Jennifer (left), enjoy finally sharing all of their planning and hard work with the Staunton community (photos by @octobergracemedia)

Last but not least, we have to thank our fantastic photographer, Cindy Fellows of October Grace Media, for taking such wonderful photos of this very special event (check out her website at the link above or her awesome Instagram page @octobergracemedia), as well as Magdalena Bake, who helped to provide the delicious refreshments.

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… and the winning ticket number is…

The lucky winner!

We have a raffle winner! One lucky Open House attendee has won one free class or workshop of their choice, to be booked on our shop before ringing in the new year on December 31, 2024. Winning ticket #1506224, be on the lookout for an email with more details!

Open House attendees paint their bisque-fired ceramic garden stake with different colors of underglaze (Photo by @octobergracemedia)

Stay tuned for news about garden stake glazing, firing and pick-up!

If you want to check out more photos of the event, you can see the full gallery by @octobergracemedia below, and, if you didn’t have a chance to play this time around, don’t worry. You can check out our Classes, Courses & Workshops page, and we’ll be planning plenty more fun soon!

Keep watching this space!

More New Wheels, Glaze Making, Our First Kiln Firing and... Just One Week To Go Until Our Open House!

It has been a very busy week here at the Staunton Clayground! We have been working like mad trying to get everything ready for our Open House next weekend and first classes after that, which we are so excited about! (Don’t forget, our very first “Intro to Clay” class starts on Monday, April 22, and there are still spots available! More on that below.)

Let’s clay!

First off, we unboxed and set up our new member wheels, a Shimpo Whisper and a Speedball Clay Boss. They have larger wheel heads (14”) and can handle more weight, and having them means that members will always have a guaranteed space to come and work in, separate from any ongoing class (if you recall, we have a bank of 9 wheels for classes already set up and ready to go)! Aren’t they enticing? I can’t wait to take them each out for a spin, pun fully intended ;-)

Studio Manager at work!

Then we started in on preparing our line-up of glazes! Jennifer got suited up and, over two days, got all eight of our colored glazes mixed (she actually used a drill with a mixer attachment, but the whisk was more photogenic).

Meanwhile, Cary has been hard at work finishing making kiln cookies, a task we’ve both been hard at work at for weeks, sometimes with the help of friends and family! For those of you who don’t know much about pottery firing, kiln cookies are not nummy treats, although we certainly could have used some of those more than once over the last couple of weeks!

They work kind of like coasters with a mug of tea: you put your glazed pieces on them while they’re in the kiln, because if the glaze runs down and drips, this way you end up with molten glass-like gloop on the disposable cookie instead of on the big, much-harder-to-replace kiln shelf.

Then we got to unload the kiln!

Cary got to lift the lid. It was an exciting moment, since this was the first firing we’d ever gotten a chance to do in our new studio!

Can’t wait to start dipping these in our brand new glazes!

Needless to say, we were as close to jumping up and down as we could be in a confined space filled with fragile equipment :-) In the end, all but one tile made it and now we are ready for glazing!

It’s going to be a very fun and busy weekend! With lots more to do before the Open House, just one week away!! We can’t wait to see you there! Not sure how to get there?

Just drop us a line if you still have any questions about how to find us!

And remember, our very first class, an “Intro to Clay,” starts on April 22, the Monday after our Open House. It will cover the basics of wheel throwing and handbuilding, and will be co-taught by Cary and Jennifer. There are still some spots left if you’re interested, and don’t forget to check out the rest of our class line-up for spring and summer. There are quite a few already, but we’re still adding to it! New and exciting workshops are still coming!

So keep watching this space!

Staunton Clayground Open House!

Saturday, April 20, 12–5 pm

All are welcome!

Are you ready to come and clay?

It’s less than a month away and we are so excited to have you come and check out our space, find out in person about our classes and membership options, enjoy refreshments and creative activities, and grab a ticket for a chance to win a door prize of one free pottery workshop!

How to find us, you may ask…

We’re located in “The Cellar” at 123 W. Frederick Street, under the post office building. Main entrance around back!

Free parking for “The Cellar” is available in the lot at 116 N. Lewis St. There is plenty of on-street parking nearby, and we are just a few blocks’ walk from the public parking lots at the Wharf and on South New St.

The Countdown has officially begun!

Stay tuned for info about our first classes. Dates coming next week!

The Staunton Clayground Is Coming!

Building Community Through Clay

Whether you are just hearing about the Staunton Clayground, or you have been patiently anticipating our opening, I'm excited to tell you that we are moving into our space and working hard to create an environment that allows you to be creative and productive, whether on your own or in classes. Stay tuned for announcements about an open house and first introductory class!

So, what are we? We are a membership-focused pottery studio in Downtown Staunton that offers tools, workspace, equipment, glazes and kiln-firing for members, as well as an array of classes and workshops for beginners through seasoned potters. We have 12 pottery wheels, 3 kilns, and 2 slab rollers, so there is plenty of room to spread out and get creative. 

So, where are we? We are located under the Frederick Street Post Office in a space called the Cellar. Among other businesses, we will be sharing the floor with a sewing school, so members will be surrounded by creative energy! 

So, why are we? Officially, we founded Staunton Clayground in order to “Celebrate Clay, Creativity, and Community”. But honestly, if you are like me, you are tired of creating art in solitude; we all had enough solitude during the pandemic. So I see the Clayground as being a place to work and play side by side with other people having fun, sharing ideas, and growing together. As we say on our homepage, “building bonds one joyful creation at a time”. 

We believe in… 

the power of art to improve the world, one life at a time, the joy of creating to foster personal expression, self-exploration, personal growth and self-confidence.

We believe in…

forging relationships and collaborations with local non-profit organizations to help them fulfill their missions.

If you are interested in taking classes, becoming a Studio Member, or simply want to stay informed, please sign up for our newsletter (if you haven’t already) and come and clay with us!

Clay covered hands, “Building community through clay!”

#stauntonclayground #comeandclay #letsclay #pottery #staunton #stauntonvirginia #potterystudio #claystudio